1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to architectural walls. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to architectural walls that include adjustable shelves attached thereto.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Architects and interior designers often use walls to separate space within an indoor environment, such as a home, an office, or another building. While some walls are structural and load-bearing, other walls are architectural and function to provide organization, direct traffic flow, or increase functionality of the interior environment. Architectural walls allow the architect or interior designer to freely adapt the interior environment to particular or changing needs. Architectural walls may be used in conjunction with raised floors or drop ceilings in order to better enable electrical, HVAC, plumbing or telecommunication systems to be installed and maintained. Architects and interior designers may use architectural walls to provide adaptable organization and display options, as well.
With traditional fixed walls, installation of shelves requires drilling into the material of the wall and requires that fasteners, such as screws, nails, or bolts, be inserted to affix the shelves to the wall. When doing this, the location of the shelves must be properly measured and the shelves themselves leveled before installation. Once installed, the shelves will be immovably affixed in that position. One must remove the fasteners and create new holes in the material of the wall in order to alter the position of the shelves. This will also leave unsightly and damaging holes in the material of the wall, requiring more resources to either repair or hide and may compromise the strength of the wall.
Architectural walls provide an alternative to damaging traditional fixed walls. Architectural walls may be made of one or more of various woods, pressboard, plywood, glass, sheetrock, plastic, metals, textiles, or similar materials. Furthermore, architectural walls may be modular, allowing for interchangeable components being made of different materials. However, while architectural walls may provide an array of additional options due to modularity and lightweight construction, these same characteristics may make architectural walls weaker and reduce an architectural wall's ability to support shelves or objects hung upon them.
Thus, there are a number of problems with architectural walls that can be addressed.